Illuminated catch ball



Nov. 28, 1961 G. J. OBRIEN 3,011,048

ILLUMINATED CATCH BALL Filed July 22, i959 Bymww United States Patent C)Y 3,011,048 ILLUMINATED CATCH BALL Gerard J. OBren, 71 Bayview Ave.,Jersey City, NJ. Fired July z2, 1959, ser. No. 828,846 1 Claim.(Cl.'2406.4)

This invention relates to toys and more particularly to an illuminatedcatch ball. An important object of the invention is the provision of ahollow ball of any desired size such as, for example, a baseball, madeof a translucent plastic material in any color or combination of colors,having a small electric battery cell with a light bulb thereon in closedcircuit therewith, removably mounted on the ball to illuminate the ball.

A ball so illuminated may be used as a catch ball by children in thedark, and the darker the environment the more clearly visible the ballis. As an accessory to using the illuminated ball in that manner in thedark, each child may have, attached to his belt or shirt pocket by afountain pen clip, a second small battery cell with a light bulbenergized thereby, so that his position in the dark may be observed bythe other players.

Another object of the invention is the provision of ref leasable lockingmeans engaging the cell and the wall of the ball whereby the cell issecurely mounted within the ball and yet may be readily removed when,for example, it is desired to replace the cell or the bulb.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of additionalsecuring means within the ball to serve to permit a limited degree ofresiliently restrained swinging movement of the bulb with respect to thecell and of the cell itself when the ball is brought to a sudden stop,especially in case the ball should hit the floor or ground or someobstacle in flight. The resilient restraining force in each caseprevents damaging shock to, and promptly restores the bulb and/or thecell to their original aligned positions.

The above as well as additional objects will be claried in the followingdescription wherein reference numerals refer to like-numbered parts inthe accompanying drawing. It is to be noted that the drawing is intendedprimarily for the purpose of illustration and that it is thereforeneither desired nor intended to limit the invention necessarily to anyor all of the exact details of construction shown or described exceptinsofar as they may be deemed essential to the invention.

Referring brielly to the dra-wing,

FIG. l is a ball of the kind mentioned above, with parts broken away toexpose the interior and with parts in section.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of a modifiedstructure.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 3--3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary enlargement of FIG. l.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral indicates a unitaryhollow ball or sphere made of any suitable translucent plastic materialwhich, as is well known, possesses a degree of resiliency or flexibilityand is therefore relatively soft. If desired, simulated stitches 11 maybe provided on the outer surface of the ball to give it more of theappearance of a baseball.

The ball is provided with an axial opening 12 thereinto; this opening isvery considerably smaller than the diameter of a spherical ball, as isillustrated in FIG. 1. A socket 13 made of any suitable material `butpreferably of a yieldable material such as rubber or plastic, has arecess 13 to receive and snugly hold the base of a small battery cell15. On its own base, that is the end opposite the recess 14, the sockethas an enlarged gasket 16 having a spherical conformation of the sameradius of 3,011,048 Patented Nov. 28, 1961 curvature as the ball 10,composed of an intermediate portion'17 having the same diameter as theopening 12, and two diametrically opposed portions `18 and 19 havinglarger diameters than the intermediate portions.l It should here bementioned that the various parts or Velements of the structure insertedinto or mounted on the ball are shown exaggerated in the drawing for thepurpose of clarity. From the above it is apparent that the gasket 16 issufficiently yieldable to permit of insertion of the cell 15 and itssocket 14 into the ball or removal thereof from the ball, in an obviousmanner.

A small electric light bulb 20 is secured on the other end of the cellin contact with the positive contact or terminal of the battery, bymeans of a coiled spring 21 whose base 22 tightly grips the wall of'thecell and whose other end 23 is reduced in diameter and tightly grips themetallic cylindrical contact portionlftY ofthe bulb. The positiveterminal of the cell is shown at 25 and the tip terminal of the bulb,which engages the terminal 25 of the cell, is shown at 26.

As an added means to prevent too wide swinging of the cell and its bulbwhen the ball is in use in the manner stated above, or is rolled alongthe ground or on a floor, an internal cylindrical wall or socket 27 maybe formed on the inner surface of the ball in axial alignment with theopening 12, into which the bulb projects.

As a modification which reduces such swinging of the cell and bulb to aminimum, or completely eliminates it in the case of the cell, theprovision shown in FIG. 2 may be made. Herein a cylindrical wall 28 inaxial alignment with the opening 12 has a greater axial length than theWall 27 and at least its innermost portion 28a has a sufficiently largediameter so that the base 22, that is, lthe widest portion of the spring21, may register therein. Thus the entire structure mounted in the ballis restricted from wobbling.

The plastic ball may be manufactured with one hemisphere thereof whiteand the other black, in -which case the ball in ight or in being rolledwill give the effect of a light flashing on and off. In any event, theillumination of the ball makes it clearly visible in ight for a game ofcatch played in the dark. In actual manufacture an inexpensive way ofmaking the ball is by forming two halves thereof and fusing thempermanently together along an equatorial line, not shown.

It is to be noted that the gasket 16 is illustrated in the drawing asbeing concentric with the sphere formed by the ball 10. In -the casewhere the cell 15 is thin enough so that the total diameter of the celland the base of the spring 23 is relatively small compared with thediameter of the sphere, the gasket 16 need not have the curvature of thesphere as the diameter of the area of the gasket will be relativelysmall so that the gasket may be ilat, or lie in a plane at right anglesto the axis of the ball through the opening 12.

It is further to be noted that the gasket as described may be consideredas a gasket having a circumferential groove defining an intermediateportion 17 and outer portions 18 and 19.

When the ball is not being used, the socket with the cell and bulb arereadily removed and the cell is easily detached from the bulb so thatthe cell will not become deenergized uselessly.

The spring 22 which secures the bulb to the cell will obviously permitthe bulb 20 to swing out of axial align-y excessive'degrees and thus toprevent twisting of the bulb too kfarjto 4be restored by thespring.'Howeven the impatuof the -bulb with either wall 27 or 2S will beatagreatly reduced force so as to leave the bulb intact; this isparticularly true when the Walls 27 and 28 are also formed cfa softplasticmaterial, as described and illustrated. Thus thecircuitbetweenvthe bulb and the cell ref meains unbroken during theapplication of such shocks, Y

but even if the bulb should be tiltedsuiciently to break the contactmomentarilyvthe instant restoring of the bulb to its normal position bythe spring will again Yclosepthe circuit. Should Vsuchsh'ock impact bedirected downward, A FIG. 1, along theaxis ofthe opening 12, the bulbtip 426 v may momentarily beseparatedfrom thecell terminal a'gaino openIthe` circuit, but here also the spring will instantaneously restorethemutual contacts.

Whenthe cell socket 13 -is also made `of the same yieldable plastic,vasy mentioned above, it also permitsl a limitedamount of `swinging `onits axis so vthat a lateral shock force onutheballvwill -be greatlyreduced by the socket 13 before itis applied Ato the c'ell.

Thus both the cell ,and the bulb are protected against damage,y and thebulb maintains its illumination.

The invention lhaving thus been, described, what s claimed and desiredlto be secured byLetter Patent is as Yfollows: e

A catch ball comprising a hollow ,translucent plasticV metallicyieldable resilientY means engaging the cellandA the metallic shell ofthe bulb and normally maintaining the bulb in axial positionV withrespect to the cell with the contacttip of the bulb engaging thepositive terminal of the cell and closing the circuit through the bulband cell, the cell with the bulb thereon being positioned along adiameter of the sphere entirely within the sphere in alignment with saidopening, said Yresilient means permittling tilting of the bulb out ofalignment` with the kcell owing to shockto 'the ball upon impact andrestoring the bulb to alignment'with fthe cell after such impact, meansremovably mounted in said opening for securing they cell alongsaiddiarneter, a cylindrical Wallof resilient insulating material on theinnersurface of the sphere diametrically opposite said opening, at leastthe ,outerl .portion ofsaid bulb Vregistering in the enclosure formedbyl said wall, the largest transverse diameter of the bulb beingslightly smaller than the internal diameter of said wall whereby aclearance in lall radial directions is provided between the bulb andsaid wall and the wall provides a limit stop to the titing of the bulbout of axial alignment with the cell.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS ..-man

